AGDQ is One of My Favorite Events, and I Couldn't Be More Excited for This Year

Hey everyone!With AGDQ 2019 less than a week away, I've been super busy preparing for my normal routine. A few years ago, I started freelancing as an entertainment critic and overall media journalist. Before then, AGDQ and SGDQ were simply fun events that I got to enjoy from the comfort of my couch.After a year or so into my freelance career, I tried to sell a few articles about speedrunning, AGDQ, and similar events. Although the initial interest was lackluster, I eventually found a few clients who were willing to give me a shot.At first, I'd attempt to write 500 word articles about each run as they were happening, making mad dashes to the bathroom or store whenever breaks came up. It was hectic and stressful. Eventually, I was able to find the right client, and settle into a routine of daily recaps and live coverage via social media. This was still in addition to my normal workload and schedule.Fast forward to now. Currently, my coverage of GDQ and other "Best of the Year" content is enough to sustain myself in terms of my freelance budget. AGDQ 2019 is the first real year that I will be able to sit back, enjoy the marathon, and purely write and create content about speedrunning. Although I'm barely a speedrunner myself (unless Putt-Putt Saves the Zoo counts), I have a real connection to the scene. Watching it grow over the past decade or so has been awesome, and finding a way to integrate things like GDQ into my freelance career has been an overwhelming surprise.I said it last year at the end of AGDQ 2018, but it bears repeating; thank you. Honestly, I'm super lucky to be able to chill around for a week watching awesome speedruns, and not have to take vacation time or lose out on work. As a freelancer, that's a huge deal. It wouldn't be possible without the speedrun community, and for that I offer my complete and utter gratitude.On a less serious note, what runs are you all looking forward to? I wrote up a recommendation article myself, but it was so incredibly hard to whittle things down. I watched every VOD from SGDQ 2018, so I'm excited to see everything. However, there are some runs I simply must see live. What runs will you be staying up until ungodly hours to watch?Side note: If you're interested in following my coverage, you can find it pretty easily online. I don't want this post to feel anything less than absolutely sincere. That said, my article about what runs I'm most excited for can be found here: http://bit.ly/2F1l2dA again, everyone! Can't wait until Saturday!